DHAKA/MUMBAI: The oil price spike caused by the war in the Middle East has sparked unrest in Bangladesh and exasperation at petrol pumps around Asia, where many economies are heavily dependent on fossil fuel imports.

Even as governments move to limit the impact on fuel prices, lines have formed at petrol stations in countries including Vietnam, Pakistan and the Philippines, although the situation remains stable elsewhere.

In Bangladesh — which imports 95 per cent of its oil and gas needs — the military has been deployed at major oil depots, as police patrol in and around filling stations.

“We haven’t received supply from the depot, but the bike riders weren’t convinced and vandalised the station,” said petrol station worker Ashrafuzzaman Dulal said, describing violence on Sunday.

India tightens gas supplies over Mideast war

On Tuesday his station Shahjahan Traders, one of the oldest in the capital Dhaka, had hung a banner apologising because its stock had run out. The South Asian nation of 170 million people has started fuel rationing, sent students home and scrapped celebratory light displays over the energy crunch.

One man was killed on Saturday night in the southern Bangladeshi district of Jhenaidah after an altercation over refuelling with staff.

Following the 25-year-old’s death, angry crowds torched three buses and vandalised a filling station, police said.

Indian restaurants warn of closures

India ordered tighter controls over natural and cooking gas on Tuesday following import disruptions caused by the Middle East war, with restaurants warning it could spark widespread closures.

The world’s most populous nation is the fourth largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) buyer, and second-largest buyer of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), such as that used for cooking — much of which is sourced from the Middle East.

“The ongoing conflict in the Middle East has resulted in the disruption of liquefied natural gas shipments through the Strait of Hormuz,” the Ministry of Petroleum said in an order issued on Tuesday.

It said the new rules would “ensure equitable distribution and continued availability for priority sectors”. The ministry ordered that LNG supplies be prioritised to supply households, transport sectors and production of LPG.

Restaurants and hotels across India also warned of disruptions to operations, after a separate ministry order on Monday that prioritised domestic LPG supplies to households. The National Restaurant Association of India warned that the government order had resulted in LPG suppliers “across the country” signalling that supplies to eateries would be stopped.

“The restaurant industry is predominantly dependent on commercial LPG for its operations,” it said in a statement. “Any disruption therein will lead to a catastrophic closure of majority of restaurants.” PC Rao, head of a hotel industry association in the southern tech-city Beng­aluru, said the “situation was dire”.

Published in Dawn, March 11th, 2026